When to Pray for your pastor...

I need your prayers. I can not explain to you what I go through every week to prepare for Sunday.  There are weeks when it is easier and others when it is like pulling teeth without Novocain. Lately I have had more people comment to me about how the messages have hit them right in the forehead and that it was used by God for there next step. I need to hear that. I ask god every week to make the message "Life Changing." Often I rewrite it several times and am rarely completely satisfied with it before I get up on Sunday Morning... I need your Prayers to keep it up.

I struggle, come under attack from the enemy and have bad hair days. Which is why I need your prayers.
Thank you for partnering with me and my family.

Perry Noble a pastor I keep tabs on writes an article that I think is so true... here is the link and the article... http://www.perrynoble.com/2008/03/06/when-to-pray-for-your-pastor/

When To Pray For Your Pastor

I’ve had four conversations in the past several weeks where someone has said to me, “Perry, my family and I pray for you and your family everyday.”

Let me be very clear…there is almost NOTHING ELSE I would rather hear from a Springers (attender/member of NewSpring) mouth than that! It always blows me away that people would think enough of me, Lucretia and Charisse to talk to the Creator of the Universe on our behalf.

I know there are people from other churches who read this site and I would strongly encourage you to pray for your pastor…when are the three times he needs it the most?

#1 - Sunday Night/Monday Morning

If a pastor EVER feels like giving up–it’s either on Sunday night or Monday morning.

I would say that 99% of the worlds population doesn’t really have a clue as to what pastors endure emotionally, physically and spiritually.

• If they are going to be under a heavy spiritual attack…it’s usually during this time.
• If they are going to have a sleepless night, even though they are exhausted–it will be on Sunday night.
• If they are going to battle discouragement…it will be on Sunday night.

Trust me on this folks…I am saying what most pastors won’t tell you (either because of insecurity or some sort of Messiah complex!)

When a pastor preaches a message he has SEVERAL adrenalin rushes–ever had one of those?  Sure you have!  Let’s say you are riding down the road in a car and another car runs a stop sigh and you manage to avoid a collision by mere inches.

BAM…you get an adrenalin rush that studies show it takes between four to six hours to recover from.

NOW–take under consideration that most pastors in today’s world preach more than one sermon per Sunday…and with the shots of adrenalin the body produces to keep the dude going…it completely kicks his butt–I promise.  That is why it is so essential to lift him up during this time–he feels like a used washed cloth!

#2 - On Saturday Nights

If I am going to have a sleepless night, other than Sunday night–it’s Saturday.

Pastors have a hard time shutting their minds off on Saturday night–we think about the message, the music, who is and is not going to be there…and about one million other things.  We can literally drive ourselves crazy.

ALSO…for me personally, if I am going to have any sort of nightmare–it’s usually on Saturday night.  Oh yeah…PLEASE don’t just pray for him…but his entire family as well!!!  There needs to be complete peace in and on the pastor’s house the night before church…and I believe that this comes through people passionately praying to God on his behalf.

#3 - Anytime The Holy Spirit Brings Him To Mind

If you are riding down the road and your pastors name pops into your mind…pray for him.  It really is that simple.

If you are in your living room and watching television and his name pops in your mind…pray for him.

If you are riding down the road and you see a dead squirrel splatted all over the place and your pastors name pops in your mind…PRAY FOR YOURSELF, you have issues!!!  :-)

The Holy Spirit knows when people need prayer…and I can’t tell you the number of times He’s brought someone’s name to my mind, I’ve prayed for them and then later found out that at the exact time I prayed for them was at a time when God was doing some serious work in their lives.

Prayer works…thanks to all of you who pray for Lucretia, Charisse and myself…you will never know how much we appreciate it.

Comments

[Matt Brown]

Great article!